Much as I want to use that tired old line
"there's no such thing as a stupid question"
I just can't! Truth is...there
ARE stupid questions out there and I certainly get my
share!
Now to be fair, most folks simply
don't know how renewable energy works
and it's up to
folks like me to help educate
them. We were all there at one time and a little
tolerance
and patience goes a long way when
educating the public. I actually enjoy teaching folks
how this
stuff works, otherwise I wouldn't give over 35 presentations each year.
But some
people manage to cross that
invisible line.......
Why can't I put my
solar array inside
my barn? And why couldn't the wind turbine go
there too?
Can I run a fan
off my batteries to
make my turbine spin to
charge the batteries when
there's no wind?
Do these turbines make much sound?
Because you know, sound travels a long way
on a still night in the country.....
I
have some classic answers for these that I may post at a later
date....
E.W.....thanks for getting me
started on this!
"Sometimes
I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits"
Contrary
to popular belief, I do not suffer from insanity....
truth is, I
enjoy every minute of
it!
I want to sound off about something that
really bugs me....people who want to install
a wind turbine on the
roof of their home. It's an incredibly bad idea! Will it work?
Yes.....but not very well. And even if it never damages your roof, it will NOT
produce
much power. How do I know?
What makes me such an expert???
I installed a small turbine on a 10'
mast on my roof about 12 years ago. No, I didn't
know any better and yes, it
came down...about 1 year later in an 86 mph wind gust...
because
the roof was not designed to handle the stresses unique to wind turbines.
It also never produced more than
about 20% of what it should have if it had been
installed correctly....on a nice tall tower. We did sort
of like the sound of "free energy"
coursing through the building's
framing and we really appreciated the way it
removed
100 square feet of shingles
and 1 sheet of 5/8 plywood decking...but I digress.
So, to clarify my original statement
....what really bugs me are the people who still
want to try it even
when they know it
hasn't worked well for anyone else! So I say....
if you
figure out a way to change the laws of physics...the same ones that
govern
the wind, then go for it! Otherwise, put that thing on a REAL
tower,
tall enough to
be well above obstructions and where the wind turbine
fuel lives!
If
you really do learn from your mistakes, I should be the smartest guy
around!
Maybe
the next subject will be those criminally short 10 meter
towers that
one company offers for their turbines....you guys
know who you are! By the way, us old
timers have a name for
those criminally short towers......fence
posts!
To hell with
performance......it looks really nice!
